What’s On Your Nightstand? : Jan. 2011

Joining in with the monthly listing of what reading material I have next to the bed, on the computer, or scattered through out the house:

Borrowed from a friend:

In the Presence of My Enemies by Gracia Burnham with Dean Merrill

Bought at library sale:

The Lady and the Panda (The True Adventures of the Fist American Explorer to Bring Back China’s Most Exotic Animal) by Vicki Constantine Croke

Bought not too long ago at local bookstore:

The Backyard Homestead Edited by Carleen Madigan

Bought long ago when I worked at a bookstore:

Love Sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

E-books for the computer:

Radical (Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream) by David Platt

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I’m reading these e-books with the Barnes and Noble Nook app on my laptop. This will be my first attempt to read a novel off of the computer screen and already I suspect I don’t like it. I want to be able to snuggle down in the covers of my bed or sit next to the warm wood stove. Hopefully once I get into the story, I won’t mind sitting at the computer so much to turn “pages.” I’ll let you know how it goes.

What's On Your Nightstand

What to read instead of Eat, Pray, Love: travelogues by women

If you are interested in reading about women traveling the world and living overseas, but want to skip the spiritual elements presented in Eat, Pray, Love (One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia), try these books. The archived blog posts give more information.

Reading Lolita in Tehran (A Memoir in Books) by Azar Nafisi

The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad

Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez (archived blog post)

A Year in the World (Journeys of a Passionate Traveler) by Francis Mayes (archived blog post)

Tales of a Female Nomad (Living at Large in the World) and Female Nomad and Friends (Tales of Breaking Free and Breaking Bread Around the World) both by Rita Golden Gelman (archived blog post)

From this list, Tales of a Female Nomad is a favorite. If you want to read more about living in Indonesia, start with that title. A Year in the World did not hold my attention; I don’t think I finished it.

Do you like to read travelogues by women living overseas? What book would you add to this list?

What’s on my nightstand: June 2010

Books I’ve read this month or are in process, plus source of acquisition. Cause I always like to over-share.

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. It’s a sad fact I’ve never read Kingsolver’s fiction. This title was a library giveaway. It’s not her award-winning latest, but it’s a start.

How Soccer Explains the World (An Unlikely Theory of Globalization) by Franklin Foer. My brother lent me this one. Now I can look like I’m interested in soccer during the World Cup (an event I’m not at all paying attention to).

Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart. A memoir in which New York City in 1945 is the central character.

The Outside Boy by Jeanne Cummins. Novel. Loved the writing, enjoyed the characters. Reminded me of Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes. The Outside Boy and Summer at Tiffany were given to those who attended the Book Blogger Conference.

Two for Book Tours: Life, in Spite of Me (Extraordinary Hope After a Fatal Choice) by Kristen Jane Anderson with Tricia Goyer and Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff. Could these books be any more different?

That’s my June so far, in books. What have you been reading?